NEW BRITAIN, CONN. (Jan 14, 2008) – A porous Saint Francis defense allowed the normally cold-shooting Central Connecticut State offense to shoot nearly 52 percent on the day, as the Red Flash fell, 72-64, at Detrick Gymnasium on Monday afternoon.

The loss drops the Flash to 5-11 overall and 2-3 in Northeast Conference play. CCSU, on the other hand, improves to 3-14 overall and 2-4 in the NEC.

SFU's offense continued to keep the pace it's maintained through its previous three games, shooting over 40 percent for the fourth consecutive contest, but the loss boiled down to turnovers and defense.

“We had way too many turnovers in the first half and I thought, overall, that our defense was very poor tonight,” said Flash coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl. “The bottom line is we weren't playing defense. That really let us down, and our rebounding really let us down.”

Freshman Samantha Leach (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) turned in her second impressive offensive performance in as many games, tossing in a game- and career-high 23 points. The 5' 11” guard's evening was highlighted by a 5-for-7 performance from beyond the three-point arc.

In addition to Leach, three other Saint Francis players scored in double digits: Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal Academy) and Emily Bollinger (Westminster, Md./Westminster) (Westminster, Md./Westminster) each tossed in 12, while Whitney Robinson (Fairmont, W.Va./Fairmont) (Fairmont, W.Va./Fairmont) chipped in 11.

Central's Kerrianne Dugan led the Blue Devils with 19.

The Red Flash have not won consecutive road or conference games since the 2004-05 season.

Saint Francis returns to action on Jan. 19 when they play host to Robert Morris.